


Papercuts and Tape

by ProphetStill_IfBirdOrDevil



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cas tries his best to understand humans, Christmas Fluff, Destiel Secret Santa 2020, Eileen Leahy (mentioned) - Freeform, M/M, Sam Winchester (mentioned) - Freeform, a brief mention of Saileen, also we do a very sappy conversation and feelings and a funny AND sappy christmas gift exchange, also we're kinda ignoring the canon plot because it hurts and we don't do pain on christmas, canonverse destiel, dean and cas are in love, destiel christmas fluff, everything is fluffy destiel and nothing hurts, for the secret santa exchange on tumblr, it's Christmas, pre-15x18 though, set somehwere in season 15, this is dean's pov and basically he's overwhelmed by an Angel being in love with him for 4k words, we're at the bunker, your honor they're in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28314075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProphetStill_IfBirdOrDevil/pseuds/ProphetStill_IfBirdOrDevil
Summary: It's Christmas at the men of letters bunker. The Winchesters usually don't celebrate, but this year Castiel wants to start a new tradition.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 8
Kudos: 63
Collections: Destiel Secret Santa Exchange 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this little ficlet for [psychicbouquetblaze-stuff](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/psychicbouquetblaze-stuff) on Tumblr as part of the [Destiel Secret Santa exchange 2020](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/destielsecretsanta2020) . Merry Christmas! :)  
> (Read on Tumblr [here](https://castiel-is-at-hogwarts.tumblr.com/post/638477399660675072/hey-psychicbouquetblaze-stuff-its-your-secret))

It’s quiet in the bunker this December afternoon. Dean has spent the day in his room so far, marathoning cartoons on Netflix. He may be a 40-year-old man, but if he wants to watch some Scooby-Doo and have a greasy fast-food pizza while doing so, who’s going to stop him? Certainly not Sam, who couldn’t get out of the bunker fast enough at the first text from Eileen this morning. And probably neither Cas, who hasn’t been around all day. Nothing to be seen from him but a note on the table in the library indicating he’s out  _ shopping _ , whatever that means for an Angel.

Right now, Dean is on his way back to his room to continue the cartoon marathon after a bathroom break, and he decides to stop by the kitchen for a beer. Yes, it’s only 2 pm. No, he doesn’t care.

Around the corner, another couple of steps through the hallway, and Dean stops in the kitchen door – facing Castiel, apparently back from his shopping trip. The Angel is sitting at the kitchen table, a quadratic cardboard box approximately the size of a tennis ball in front of him. A pure chaos of old newspapers is spread across the table all around the box, a tape dispenser – Dean recognizes it as the one Sam keeps in the library – in the middle of it.

And then of course there’s the Angel, currently trying to wrap one piece of paper around the box. That attempt doesn’t seem to be very successful, and something tells Dean that this wasn’t the first try. It may be the frustrated look on Cas’s face indicating that, or the few balls of crumpled up paper on the ground around him. Maybe it’s the tiny pieces of tape that are plastered all over the trench coat Cas is wearing. Probably it’s the combination of all that.

Dean stands there in absolute silence for a moment, watching Cas and his fight against the paper. Only after a second he notices the single tiny piece of tape that is sticking on the Angel’s cheek, and he can’t help thinking how cute his friend is at this very moment. Castiel is always quite adorable when he can’t figure out how human things work, Dean thinks, but this image right now, Cas struggling to wrap the paper around the box with this frustrated look on his face and a piece of tape on his cheek, that brings his cuteness to a whole new level.

“Hey,” he now says with a laugh, “What are you doing?”

Without looking up from the work at his hands, Cas answers.

“I’m wrapping a gift,” the Angel says. Dean watches how he struggles to rip another piece of tape from the dispenser with his right hand, while the left one tries to hold the paper in place on the box. The tape apparently doesn’t want to be ripped from the dispenser. “At least I’m trying to,” Cas adds.

Dean walks up closer to Cas’s workstation and can’t hide an amused smirk. That for sure looks like a lot of failed attempts so far, he thinks, but decides to not point it out.

“Why the newspaper?” he asks instead.

Cas is still visibly focused on his work. He has now finally managed to rip a piece of tape from the dispenser and uses it to attach one corner of the paper to the box.

“We don’t have any wrapping paper,” he explains as he leans back and takes a satisfied look at the half-wrapped box. Then, he grabs another corner of the paper and starts folding it around another side of the box.

Cas repeats his earlier procedure, he keeps the paper in place with one hand while the other one reaches for the tape dispenser – and the exact moment he leans in to reach the tape, the corner of the paper he has just taped to the box comes off.

Dean can’t hold back his chuckle as he watches Cas letting out an annoyed sigh.

“Need some help?” Dean asks.

For the first time in this conversation, Cas looks up, looks at Dean.

“Dean,” he says with an annoyed undertone, “I am a millennia-old celestial being. I used to fight Heaven’s wars. I think I can handle a trivial human task like wrapping some paper around a box.” And yet, he goes back to pick another fight against the tape and paper.

“Alright,” Dean shrugs and starts walking over to the fridge to get that beer he initially came for. He hasn’t even made it halfway to the fridge when he suddenly hears an “ouch!” coming from behind his back.

He’s immediately back at the table just to find Cas staring at a tiny drop of blood on his left index finger. A papercut. Dean tried hard not to laugh. Yes, a millennia-old celestial being. With a papercut.

“And you’re absolutely sure you don’t need any help?” Dean now asks with a smirk he can’t hide.

The Angel doesn’t answer. He shoots an annoyed look at Dean, then covers his injured finger with his other hand and closes his eyes for just a second. There is a bright light under his palm, and as he removes his hand, the finger is healed.

With a deep sigh Cas leans back and takes a look at the chaos in front of him.

“You know,” he says to Dean, “I was wounded in holy wars. Now I lose fights against a piece of paper.”

Dean sits down opposite his friend with a sigh on his own. He takes another moment to just look at him.

For some reason, he just can’t take his eyes off of that single piece of tape on Cas’s cheek.

This is ridiculous, he thinks. Castiel, Angel of the Lord. In my kitchen. With tape on his cheek and a papercut on his finger. Ridiculous. But then again, pretty damn cute.

A tiny wave of Dean’s hand signals Cas to lean in. He doesn’t understand why, he does his confused head-tilt for just a second, but then he leans over the table, bringing his face closer to Dean’s.

Dean’s hand reaches for Cas’s cheek and removes the tape, forcing himself to not make it awkward, to not touch his friend’s face for longer than necessary, no matter how much he wants to.

He holds up the piece of tape that is now sticking on his finger.

“How did that get there?”

Cas – now sitting in his former position again – shows a little smile.

“It was a hard fight already even before I had an audience,” he says. He looks into Dean’s eyes as he says it, directly into his eyes. Dean loves it when he does that, but at the same time it scares him a bit. He loves it because it gives him an excuse to shamelessly stare into the indescribable beauty of Castiel’s eyes, but it’s scary because his gaze is so deep, there’s no end to it, and every time their eyes meet, Dean has a feeling like the Angel is staring right into his soul.

Well, he probably is, Dean thinks. He’s an Angel, after all. A literal Angel. Sitting in their kitchen right now, failing to wrap a gift.

He just can’t let go of that thought. It’s inexplicably funny to him, and he lets out a quiet chuckle.

“What?” Cas asks.

So, Dean explains it to him. He tells him about this thought, how Cas is a literal Angel and the absurdity of the situation. Cas doesn’t answer, but chuckles at Dean’s description.

“What is this about, anyway?” Dean asks after a moment.

Cas looks at him as if that was the stupidest question in the world with the most obvious answer.

“It’s Christmas,” he says.

“Yeah, no, I know that,” Dean says. “But we barely celebrate Christmas. And why would you care about Christmas at all? Isn’t that more like, I don’t know, your half-brother’s birthday or something?”

Cas looks at Dean with the softest smile possible.

“It’s not about that,” he explains softly. “I don’t care about it as an Angel.”

“What then?”

“I’ve learned a lot,” Cas says, “Ever since we met, I learned a lot about humanity. Your traditions and interactions. And I’ve observed that you’re celebrating Christmas not primarily for religious reasons but rather for family and love. So that’s what I want to do. Have a nice Christmas with my family.”

Dean is speechless for a moment. He’s trying to comprehend what he just heard. Cas calling him family, sure, that’s what he sees him as, too, but hearing it from him? Hearing him say it like that? And again, Dean is stuck with the thought of how insane it is that Cas is an Angel, he’s sitting in this kitchen with him right now, and this Angel has just called  _ him _ his family. Him, instead of literal Heaven, literal God.

_ Jeez, get your shit together, _ he tells himself.

And pretending to not be as impressed and overwhelmed as he is, he says: “That’s sweet, but we usually don’t do gifts.” His eyes drop to the table. “Also, there’s only one,” he adds.

“Yeah,” Cas agrees, again looking at Dean like it was obvious. “It’s for you.”

_ For me?, _ Dean thinks, and his mind goes blank for a second. There’s only one thought.  _ For me?? _

“What about Sam?” he manages to ask, faking his calm. “He’s gonna be pissed if I get something but he doesn’t…”

“Another thing I learned,” Cas explains with a deep look in Dean’s eyes. Again, one of those scary looks that Dean loves. “Sometimes, a gift says more than words ever could. Gifts can be used to show someone you care about just how important they are to you. And, no offense, while I do appreciate Sam being a good friend, you are the single most important person in the world to me.”

Dean is frozen. He stares at Cas in total silence, mesmerized by his words, by how easy Cas just said that. And then, he starts thinking about how Cas could’ve possibly meant that. Because it sounded romantic, Dean knows it sounded romantic, and hell how much he wants it to  _ be _ romantic, but at the same time … Cas is still an Angel. So, he probably doesn’t … No, he probably doesn’t mean it that way. Dean is his best friend, that’s what this is about. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

“You, uhm …” Dean now starts talking without really knowing what to say. So, he just stops again, but Cas’s eyes are on him, expecting him to continue. “I gotta find a gift for you then, on short notice,” is what he finally says. “I haven’t … because we never did gifts before”

Cas smiles at him again, again with that soft smile.

“You don’t need to give me anything,” he says.

“No, I … I want to,” Dean stammers. “What you said, about … someone being important. Makes sense to me.”

Yes, it does make sense. Because Cas is important to him. Cas is so damn important to him, in a way that he could never admit to Sam, or Eileen, or anyone else, anyone except for Cas himself. Cas is important to him, and he wants to show him that he is.

The Angel doesn’t answer. All he does is look at Dean with this soft smile on his face. That smile is so warm, so loving, it makes Dean automatically smile back.

Another moment and a glance down at the chaos on the table later, Dean speaks again.

“The wrapping doesn’t matter,” he says. “We could just agree on no wrapping, if you want”

“It’s fine,” Cas smiles. “I can do it”

“Stupid question,” Dean now asks, “Why don’t you just use your mojo for it? You can heal pretty much any wound, I’m sure you could wrap that box?”

“I could, yes. But the whole gesture is about human relations and emotions, so … I think I want the full human experience,” Cas explains.

_ Human emotions _ , Dean hears, and his heart skips a beat. But it’s nothing, he tells himself. Not like that. Or maybe …

Just to make sure, he forces himself to ask it.

“Human emotions,” he asks, “How’s that different to angelic ones?”

“You can’t compare it,” Cas explains, “At all. Being an Angel is nothing but blind obedience. Humanity, on the other hand … is simply _ everything _ . Feeling things. Really caring about things, about people. Angels don’t have that. No sympathy, nothing. Only loyalty to God and Heaven. The broad range of human emotions … it’s quite overwhelming”

“There’s lots of pain,” Dean says, not quite understanding why Cas seems so eager to experience human emotions.

“There is,” Cas agrees. “But there’s so much happiness as well.”

“Yeah?” Dean asks quietly. “Where did you observe that? Certainly not with me.”

There’s something in Cas’s eyes right now that goes straight to Dean’s heart. Something in the way his friend is looking at him that finds all the negative emotions inside him and keeps them locked away.

“Especially with you,” Cas says softly. “I know that you can’t see it. But Dean … the way you care about everyone around you, the way you spend all your life caring about strangers … you bring so much happiness. I saw that in you, and I turned my back to Heaven. It was this wonderful combination of all human emotions that is in you that made me doubt God himself.”

Dean swallows. He’s never been good with compliments, and he certainly doesn’t know how to deal with a speech like this one.

“Well, that wasn’t really worth it,” he says, “Now you’re here with me, tape on your face and papercuts.”

“No, it was worth it,” Cas answers seriously. “I found exactly the happiness that I was missing.”

“In this?” Dean asks. He can’t believe it. He can’t believe that this shitty life would make anyone happy. It doesn’t even make him happy; how could it make Cas happy?

“In you,” Cas says.

_ In you _ , Dean’s brain repeats.  _ In me. In ME. _ He stares at his best friend.

“In us, you mean,” he proposes the only explanation he can think of. “In Family.”

“Partly, yes,” Cas says. “But mostly in you, Dean. In a very special way that I believe you humans refer to as love.”

No, Dean thinks. That’s it. This isn’t happening. Now he’s convinced, he’s sure that Cas doesn’t mean it that way. He  _ can’t _ possibly mean that way. He can’t.

“Cas, you don’t …” Dean starts, trying to tell Cas that he doesn’t understand, not really, that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but he can’t find the right words.

“No, I do,” Cas says. “There may be certain aspects of humanity that I haven’t quite understood yet. Maybe I don’t know how to wrap a gift. But I’ve had time, Dean, I’ve had years to wonder about the things that you make me feel, to wonder why  _ only _ you make me feel them, no one else. And maybe it took me a while, but I know now. I do. And you don’t owe me anything, of course you don’t, you don’t have to feel the same way about me. But don’t tell me that what I feel isn’t valid. Because  _ this _ , this is the exact thing I rebelled against Heaven for.”

Dean stares yet again. He can feel his pulse beating, his heart racing.

Is this real? Is this really happening? Is it really possible that Cas,  _ Castiel _ , an actual Angel, feels that way about him? Why would he even …

Dean silences his thoughts.

He looks at Cas for another quiet moment.

“Are you familiar with the human concept of dates?” he then asks quietly.

Cas’s deep blue eyes stare back at him in quite a confused way. “I am”

“Good,” Dean says, “because I’m gonna take you out for dinner tonight”

“Okay,” Cas smiles. Again, that soft, loving smile he does. “But I’ll finish wrapping this first.”

“Alright,” Dean smiles back at him. “But, another thing about humans: We don’t show up for dates with tape in our hair.”

Cas chuckles. “Noted,” he says.

They’re both completely silent for a moment, only looking into each other’s eyes. Dean is still not entirely sure if this is really happening, but Cas’s deep eyes and his soft smile have an inexplicable calming effect on him.

“What’s in the box?” Dean asks.

Cas smiles at him. “You’ll find out on Christmas Day.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmas Day, and Dean and Cas are exchanging their gifts. This is a little follow-up piece for anyone wondering what's in the mysterious box. You can read it on Tumblr [here](https://castiel-is-at-hogwarts.tumblr.com/post/638599878923223041/i-said-there-would-be-a-little-follow-up-piece-to/)

Dean closes his bedroom door, then turns around to look at Cas with a smile. It’s Christmas Day. After spending the entire day celebrating with Sam and Eileen, they’re now alone - finally. Not that they wouldn’t enjoy the time with the rest of the family, God no, they definitely do. Dean would never skip an opportunity to spend time with his little brother, but today is different. 

Today is about Cas and him. They went on a date a couple of days ago, a wonderful date. They both were nervous about it at first, but as soon as they started talking over dinner (not a romantic restaurant dinner, no, it was burgers at Dean’s favourite diner) everything felt just right. That night, they agreed to give this a try. What exactly, Dean still isn’t so sure about that. All he knows is, there’s Cas, and there’s this very special - profound - bond between them. He knows he loves everything about Cas, and he knows that he wants to have him around, wants to have him in his life permanently, as much as that is possible for an Angel. 

So, tonight, on Christmas Day, it’s only Cas and him, alone here in Dean’s bedroom. Neither Sam nor Eileen know about any of it - Or at least they haven’t told them. Not about the talk they had a couple of days ago in the kitchen, not about the date that same evening. Not about the gift exchange they agreed on, not even about Cas being here in this room with Dean right now. They will have to, eventually, Dean knows that. But for now, he wants to keep it between Cas and himself. 

“Did you like today?” Dean asks. 

Cas smiles. “Yes,” he says. “It was nice, celebrating with all of you. It gave me a feeling of belonging.”

Dean sits down on his bed, his hand pats the empty spot next to him, inviting Cas to sit with him. 

“You do belong,” he says. 

Cas sits down next to Dean. He doesn’t answer, only looks at him with a soft smile. 

“Can I give you my gift now?” Cas then asks.

“How about we exchange them? At the same time?” Dean suggests. 

Cas agrees. His hand reaches into his trench coat’s pocket and pulls out the small box that Dean has seen already. This time, it is entirely wrapped in newspaper. 

Dean leans back to reach below his pillow, where he has hidden his gift for Cas. A package, slightly bigger than Cas’s, wrapped in just as much newspaper. 

They look at each other, smile. Then, they exchange their gifts.

Dean looks down to inspect the small quadratic box that his hands are now holding. It’s very light, of course it is a small box, but Dean almost can’t feel any weight in his hands. He already noticed the newspaper wrapping a few seconds ago, but only now he sees all the tape on it. Way too much tape for a box of that size. There’s long strips of tape wrapped around the entire box, even something that looks like a  _ very _ long stripe wrapped around it multiple times. Smaller pieces of tape sticked all over the box, keeping the newspaper in place. Or rather, not giving the newspaper the slightest chance to move even a millimeter. Ever. You could throw that box out of a plane and the wrapping would stay in place, Dean thinks. 

“You used a lot of tape, huh?” He chuckles and looks up to meet Cas’s eyes again. 

“I had to make sure,” Cas answers with a shrug. 

Dean looks back down. Something catches his eye. There’s a tiny piece of tape on the side of the box, sticking out. He takes it off, careful to not rip any more wrapping from the box. The piece of tape now on his finger, he turns back to Cas - and sticks it to the tip of his nose. 

“What are you doing?” Cas chuckles. 

“You’re cute with tape on your face,” Dean says. 

_ You’re cute in general _ , Dean thinks.  _ Your everything is cute. Your gift-wrapping is cute. But with tape on your face, you’re  _ _ hella _ _ cute.  _

Cas’s hand reaches for the tape on his nose. After taking it off, he sticks it to Dean’s forehead.

“You too,” he smirks. 

Dean chuckles as he removes the tape from his face and sticks it back onto the small box in his hands. 

“You wanna unwrap your gift?” he then asks.

Cas looks at him with a head-tilt. “You want me to go first?”

“Yeah,” Dean shrugs. Cas doesn’t react, so after a pause he adds: “Well, I have a feeling that your gift will be way more thoughtful than mine. I don’t … I just don’t wanna ruin the moment with my stupid gift.”

“Dean,” Cas says softly. “Your gift isn’t stupid. I’m sure I’ll love it.”

That makes him blush.  _ Hell no _ , he thinks.  _ Why on earth does that make me blush? There’s nothing … he only said he’s gonna like the gift, jeez, calm down.  _

“Come on, just unwrap it,” he brushes it off. 

Cas does. Dean watches him loosening the tape, Cas takes his time for every single stripe. His hands are working over the paper so carefully, almost like he’s trying to not hurt it. Now all the tape stripes are loosened, and Cas carefully folds the paper to the side, revealing the gift inside. 

A pair of pyjamas.

A light blue pair of pyjamas. The pants are covered in tiny honey bees, whereas the top has one single - way bigger - bee imprinted on the front. 

Dean catches himself nervously staring at Cas’s face, looking for only the tiniest reaction. He knows Cas is gonna like it, he’s sure about it, but at the same time … Cas is an Angel of the Lord, and this is a stupid gift from a stupid human. 

“I, uhm …” Dean starts nervously. Cas takes too long to show a reaction, and shoots Dean’s nervosity through the roof. “I figured you like bees”

Now, Cas finally reacts. 

“Yes, I do,” he says with that incredibly soft smile he does, and his hands start unfolding the clothes. He feels the fabric, inspects the print, all the bees. “I do,” he then repeats. “But Dean … you know that I don’t sleep”

“Yeah, I know that,” Dean says, “Of course. But you know … I do like the trench-coat-and-suit-look, but it’s really no good for cuddling in bed”

Cas chuckles at that for a second, then goes back to blessing Dean with that incredibly soft smile. 

“Thank you,” he says, and Dean just  _ knows _ he means it. He stares into Cas’s honest blue eyes for a moment.  _ He likes it, _ he thinks.  _ I made him happy. He likes it. This Angel, the most perfect being in existence, likes my bee pyjamas.  _

Cas stares back into Dean’s eyes, holding the eye contact for a bit. 

“It’s your turn,” he then says quietly. 

Dean only nods, still a bit overwhelmed by the knowledge that Cas really liked his stupid little gift. He lifts up Cas’s small box and inspects it, trying to find an area that isn’t entirely covered in tape. 

“I gotta say,” Dean says while he’s still trying to figure out the best way to unwrap this, “You really did show the paper who the boss is”

Cas chuckles. “I did my best,” he says.

“I know that,” Dean replies with a smile. 

Finally, he finds a way. It involves some force, but in the end, Dean is able to lift the lid and open the box. He takes a look inside - and freezes for a second. 

The first thing Dean sees is a blue light brightening the dark inside of the box. He knows that light, that colour, he knows it, has seen it before, but that can’t be. That can’t … Only now, he spots the source of the light. The lighting substance is enclosed in a tiny vial, attached to a necklace. That really looks like … No. No, that can’t be.

He looks up, finds Cas’s eyes. 

“Is that …”, he breathes. 

“Grace,” Cas says quietly. “Yes. A teeny tiny bit of my Grace.”

Dean stares at him, unable to communicate any of the thoughts that are running through his head right now. 

“Cas, you can’t do that”

“It’s not a problem, Dean,” Cas explains quietly. “It doesn’t hurt me. But it’s … something I wanted to give you. the most personal thing I can possibly give you”

“Why would you …” Dean starts stuttering his question, but he can’t finish it. 

“You know, Dean,” Cas says, “When we’re not together, when I’m not with you, I can still check on you. Our bond … I can always hear your prayers. I can feel your longing. I always have you with me, in a way. But you’re human, Dean. You don’t have any of that. If I’m not physically there, I’m not there at all. So I just … I thought it’d be nice for you to have something similar. I want to be with you, even when I’m not. With this, there’s a part of me with you, at all times.”

Dean swallows hard. His eyes are almost glued to Cas’s, he’s been staring at him the entire time. 

“But it’s …” he now stutters. “I mean, Cas, this … it’s dangerous. Giving me this.”

“I trust you,” Cas says, “More than anyone.”

Dean can’t answer. He isn’t able to find the right words to express everything he’s feeling, thinking. All he does is stare at Cas. Still.

Cas is the one to make another move, the one to finally break the eye-contact. He reaches into the box, grabs the necklace and puts it on Dean. Dean lets him; he’s sitting in there in silence and watches what Cas is doing. 

Now, Cas sits back again and looks at him with yet another soft smile. Dean looks down, staring in disbelief at the vial that now rests on his chest and the blue light it radiates. After a second, he looks back up, meeting Cas’s eyes again. 

“You’re sure about this,” he breathes. 

“I am,” Cas says. 

Dean is tearing up. He can feel it, and he tries so hard to swallow it down, but he can’t. Cas has noticed already, Dean is sure he has, he’s an Angel, after all. So, he just accepts it. He keeps looking into Cas’s eyes, letting his own tear up, letting Cas see, letting him know what he’s feeling. 

Cas quietly looks back at Dean for a while. 

“There’s something else in the box,” he then interrupts the silence, causing Dean to look back down. 

And yes, there really is something else in the box. He hasn’t noticed it before, but sure, there must have been something below the vial. As he sees what’s sitting inside the little box, he can't hold back a chuckle. 

It’s a tiny plushie, in the form of a burger. Complete with buns, salad, patty and a bright red tomato. It even has a little set of eyes attached on top. Dean reaches inside the box and takes the plushie out. 

One box, he thinks. A vial filled with Angel grace inside it, together with a tiny burger plushie. Ridiculous, if you think about it. Almost like a bad joke. Yeah, ridiculous. But at the same time, so typical. So so Cas. 

One more amused look at the plushie in his hand, then Dean looks back up. 

“Thank you,” he finally tells Cas. 

The Angel doesn’t answer. He looks at him with another soft smile and reaches for Dean’s hand, taking it in his own. 

“Can I …?” Dean starts a quiet question that he doesn’t even finish, but Cas still understands. 

“Yes,” he breathes, and Dean leans in, presses a kiss on Cas’s lips for a brief second. After that kiss, he doesn’t pull back. Instead, he rests his forehead against Cas’s.

“I love you,” Cas whispers.

“Me too,” Dean breathes. 

They’re both quiet for a bit, enjoying this moment, the other one’s presence. 

Finally, it’s Dean who breaks the silence. 

“You’re invited to cuddle in bed,” he whispers with a smirk, “but only if you put on your brand-new bee pyjamas”

Cas chuckles. “I happily accept the invitation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bee pyjamas idea was heavily inspired by Dean's hotdog pyjama pants in 15x06 (?). Do yourself a favour and imagine them cuddling in bed, wearing matching bee and hotdog pyjamas. Dean's burger plushie on the pillow with them, of course.


End file.
